There's Always A Device
by Isabel5
Summary: Nathan/Jack slash. In Eureka there's always a device.


**Title:** There's Always A Device  
**Fandom:** Eureka  
**Pairing: **Nathan/Jack  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoilers:** None.  
**Summary: **It's Eureka there's always a device.  
**Author's note:** Set before Season Three but a little AU no Nathan/Allison ever happened.  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own really want.

"Do we have to do this now?" Nathan asked Allison as he held the door open to the building that housed the Sherriff's station for her.

"Yes." She walked in, her stance resolute. "Because if you don't do this now, you won't do it."

"Why exactly do I _have_ to do it?" Nathan asked her annoyed.

"Because the situation needs to be dealt with." Allison said to him. "It's driving you crazy and that's driving me crazy and neither of us are getting any work done."

"Do you have to be here for this?" He asked her, hoping that she would leave as much as he was hoping she would stay.

"Yes." She smiled sweetly at him. "If only to make sure you don't chicken out."

"He's going to have a field day with this you know?" Nathan said and Allison just smiled. "He's never going to let me live it down."

"I know." Allison motioned for him to go inside. Nathan sighed, realizing there was no way for him to get out of this and walked in the door. He stopped, partly to let Allison catch up with him and partly to admire the sight that was in front of him. It had been unusually hot for summer in Eureka. The specially designed climate control that allowed the town to stay around a cool, balmy seventy degrees had gone on the fritz, thanks in large part to Fargo's "upgrade".

It wasn't unusual to find the citizens of the town less professionally dressed these days, ever since the record high reached 107 the day before with no sign of cooling off. Nathan had noticed a drop in the amount of woman wearing pantsuits, in favor of professional summer dresses, the men doing away with suit and tie for a cooler look of slacks and a shirt. Nathan felt being the head of Global that he didn't really have the privilege of dressing down, so he was still attired in his usual suit and tie, sweat already forming on his back. He realized now that the Sherriff likewise held a job that would not allow him to alter his usual appearance and Nathan realized how insufferable the standard polyester uniform he was forced to wear must be at this moment.

Jack was leaned back in his chair, a portable fan in his hands in an attempt to cool off. The sleeves of his shirt had been rolled as high as they would go and the first four buttons undone, no undershirt to be seen as Nathan watched him angle the fan down his chest. He smiled slightly at the sight of a practically shirtless Jack Carter and even said a little thank you to Fargo for the fact that the gracious view of Jack's bare chest was covered with a sheen of perspiration. "Why are you standing in the doorway?" Allison said loudly pushing Nathan out of the way and causing Jack to look up in surprise and then immediately fall backwards on to the floor.

Nathan allowed a small chuckle to escape his lips and Jack stood up swiftly and glared at him. "Funny." He said rubbing his elbow and setting the fan on the desk. Jack was staring at him now and he felt Allison nudge him in the ribs, he realized he hadn't actually said anything yet. "Carter…" He started but didn't really know where to go from there.

Jack just raised an eyebrow as he set to work re arranging the piles of paperwork that had flown off the desk when he fell. When Nathan still didn't say anything he put his hands on his hips. "Stark?" He asked. "Did you come here for something specific or…" He left it hanging in the air.

"I'm here on official business Sherriff." Nathan said before he could stop himself and Allison gave him a strange look. He glanced at her helplessly. He told her he was bad at this sort of thing but she wouldn't believe him. When he didn't elaborate Jack sat down in his chair and sighed.

"Look, it's hot, I'm tired, I'm cranky and Vincent refuses to make coffee while it's this hot, he's only making iced coffee and iced coffee is not coffee so I'm a little caffeine deficient at the moment and I really don't have the energy to try and psychically figure out what you're doing here."

Nathan was still trying to figure out why he'd said he was there on official business when Allison practically shoved him two steps forward. He turned and glared at her but she just crossed her arms and glared right back. "Ok here's the thing." Nathan said.

"There's a thing?" Jack asked. "You mean, like a device?"

"What device?" Nathan looked alarmed.

"The device, the thing."

"What thing?" Nathan asked confused.

"You said there was a thing."

"No I said, here's the thing." Nathan shook his head.

"Like a device?" Jack asked.

"No, there's no, the thing is…"

"It's dangerous isn't it?" Jack

"What's dangerous?" Jo asked walking in the station, holding two cups of iced coffee, one of which Jack took very reluctantly.

"The device." Jack said. "It's always dangerous." He sipped the coffee with a grimace and then set it on his desk.

"There's a device?" Jo sat down and looked between Jack and Nathan.

"There's a thing." Nathan sighed trying to steer the conversation back on track.

"Like a device." Jack said to Jo.

"No." Nathan sighed in frustration.

"Abbott, Costello." Allison finally chimed in. "Not helping."

"Let me start over." Nathan said calmly. "There's a situation."

"With the device?" Jack asked.

"The dangerous one?" Jo perked up.

"No there's no device." Nathan said.

"You said there was a device." Jack told her.

"No, you said there was a device." Nathan glared.

"Because you said there was a thing." Jack pointed out.

"Allie." Nathan groaned, pleading for her help.

"There is a situation at Global; it doesn't involve devices of any kind…" She paused. "Well I guess technically there's probably a device…"

"I knew it." Jack said triumphantly and smiled at Jo. "There's always a device."

"Great help." Nathan said to Allison. "Really, couldn't have done it without you."

"Sorry." Allison at least had the sense to look ashamed.

"Ok, yes, there probably is a device somewhere, but it's not dangerous, and it's not malfunctioning, and it has nothing to do with the situation." Nathan said looking between Jo and Jack.

"So what's the situation?" Jack asked confused.

"It's not even a situation really." Nathan said cautiously.

"Ok, what is it?" Jack spoke slowly now hoping that would make Nathan spit it out faster.

"It's a…picnic." Nathan finally said.

"A picnic?" Jack furrowed his brow and looked at Jo who looked just as confused as he did. "A dangerous picnic?" He asked hesitantly. In his mind he was conjuring all sorts of strange images, giant ants, floating picnic blankets, rocket powered potato sack races, nuclear outdoor grills.

"No, it's not dangerous." Nathan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes, maybe if he didn't look at Carter this would be easier. "It's Global's annual employee picnic." Jo seemed to comprehend this but Carter looked even more confused. "We haven't had it the past couple of years because something always came up but I thought…" Allison coughed. "We thought it was time to reinstate the tradition."

"Ok, so, no, I'm still confused. What does this have to do with me?" He asked.

"I'm here to invite you to the picnic." Nathan finally managed to say.

"Oh." Jack still looked confused. "As what? Crowd control? Fire Marshall?"

Nathan swallowed and looked up, straight into Jack's face. He was taking a sip of his coffee and Nathan bit the bullet. "As my date."

It could have gone worse, Nathan thought as he wiped coffee from his face and dabbed at the lapels of his jacket. Getting coffee out of his suit would be no problem for Callie at the dry cleaners, at least there wasn't laughter. Jack stood frozen, the cold coffee dripping on his hand at he looked over at Allison. The furrow of her brow indicated that this was not what she was expecting. He turned back to Jack who had yet to move and sighed. "Well now that I've made a complete and utter fool of myself." Nathan nodded at Jack and then Jo before walking out of the station, sparing Allison an evil glare.

Nathan sighed as flipped through his PDA that Saturday. It beeped angrily at him and he checked his messages. "This whole thing was your idea." Allison had sent him. "You can't hide away in your office forever."

Nathan sighed, he knew she was right. As head of Global, and the instigator for this whole picnic debacle, he had to at least put in an appearance. His fingers hovered over the keypad and he quickly typed, "Is he there?" He debated on sending it. He'd managed to completely and thoroughly avoid the Sherriff since that disastrous day in his office and for once Global seemed to be on his side, not creating any life threatening or illegal situation that would require their jobs to intersect. Logically he knew he couldn't avoid the man forever. Eventually someone would blow something up and they would be thrown together and have to work together and having this…thing hanging over their heads would only make that more difficult that it usually was. He deleted the message without sending it and stood up from his desk, steeling himself for the picnic and whatever it could bring.

Nathan smiled as he stood on the edges of Copernicus Park, it was the perfect day for a picnic. Fargo had finally fixed the climate control and there was a slight breeze that ruffled the leaves in the trees. The sun shown high in the sky and managed, just comfortably to keep the chill off. Vincent was grilling anything and everything imaginable and glaring at Taggert who tried and failed to sneak pieces of whatever he could get his hands on.

Fargo was fighting with Larry over who got to man the cotton candy machine and it looked, to Nathan's delight, that Fargo seemed to be winning. Henry and Spencer were setting something up behind a large blue tarp and Nathan cringed to think of what it could be, or what it could do. Jo had corralled Zane into dancing over by the fountain as Allison and Kevin watched on in amusement as he continually stepped on Lupo's toes. She didn't seem to mind it much if the look on her face was any indication. Stark made a move to join Allison and Kevin when a voice halted his progress.

"You lied to me." Jack said from behind Nathan. Nathan turned around slowly, the tone of the Sherriff's voice in direct contrast to the accusation he was making, it was more amused than angry. He looked more comfortable than Stark had ever seen him, dressed casually in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt, his hands in his pockets, an amused smile on his face.

"About what?" Nathan looked confused.

"The device." Jack smiled. Nathan frowned.

"What device?" He asked confused.

"The thing." Jack nodded to Henry and Spencer. "Tell me that's not a device of some kind. The device you said didn't exists."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Jack, this is Eureka, there's always a device."

"Ha." Jack's hands came out of his pocket and pointed at Nathan in triumph. "So you admit you lied about the device."

"I didn't lie about the device, I didn't know about the device." Nathan looked over at the tarp again and hoped with everything he had that it wasn't experimental or dangerous, but like he'd told Jack, this was Eureka.

"Come on we both knew there was going to be a device." Jack's smile cause crinkles around his eyes and Nathan couldn't help but smile back when he realized he was being teased.

"Really Jack, I don't know what it is or what it does." Nathan tried to appease him.

"It's an ice cream maker." Jack said walking up and settling in next to Nathan.

"Oh." Nathan relaxed slightly. "Well that's nothing to worry about."

Jack eyed Nathan silently then smiled again. "A fusion powered ice cream maker."

"Fission." Zoe said walking up to the two men with Pilar in tow. "Much safer." Jack glared at his daughter who simply smiled in return. "Come on Dad, put up the badge for one day and enjoy the picnic." She held out the stick in her hand piled high with cotton candy and after a seconds hesitation Jack tore off a piece and popped it in his mouth. "Doctor Stark?" She offered him the cotton candy and he was too surprised by the gesture to do anything but shake his head.

She shrugged. "Suit yourself, it's really good." She took another bite herself and smiled past him. "He likes strawberry." She said simply and then grabbed Pilar's arm and dragged her away.

"What?" Stark asked confused, looking to Jack for some sort of answer.

"Ice cream." Jack said. "I like strawberry ice cream."

"And Zoe thought it pertinent to tell me this why?" Nathan smiled slightly, he'd never figured Jack for the Strawberry ice cream kind of guy, always thought he'd be vanilla.

"Well seeing as how I'm here as your date, she thought you might like to buy me something at some point, a refreshment of some kind or possibly an ice cream cone." Jack smiled.

"My date?" Nathan raised his eyebrows. "As I recall you never accepted my invitation. I left the station with no answer and a suit covered in iced coffee."

"Ok, in my defense that came out of nowhere." Jack said. "I was surprised, and well, I really hate iced coffee." Nathan didn't say anything, instead he stared at Jack, contemplating something that had Jack squirming under his intense gaze. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just…this is how you dress for a date?" He smirked indicating the jeans and t-shirt.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I wear a very uncomfortable polyester uniform all week, I'm sorry we don't all sleep in three piece Armani suits." Jack pinched a bit of the fabric of Nathan's jacket between his fingers and suddenly they were both frozen from the intimate contact, staring at each other.

"Actually." Nathan smirked. "I don't sleep in anything." He felt very satisfied at the audible swallow that accompanied his statement. "Jack…"

The moment was broken by a large boom and Jack and Nathan both flinched. "What are the chances that was just a balloon animal popping?" Jack asked hopefully.

"I think it was Henry's fission powered ice cream maker." Nathan chuckled.

"You mean the safe fission powered ice cream maker?" Jack challenged him. Nathan just smiled. "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?"

"Technically I'm still on duty." Jack shrugged.

"What?" Nathan asked confused.

"You live in a town with crazy scientists who have access to dangerous technology and only two law enforcement officers." Jack pointed out. Suddenly he reached forward and kissed Nathan quickly, pulling away. Nathan grabbed him before he got too far away and pulled him closer for a much deeper, longer kiss before Jack managed to push himself away and panting heavily. "Hold that thought." He smiled.

"You started it." Nathan pointed out.

"I know, I don't usually…I'm not that type of guy." Jack pretended to be offended. "I just figured this was going to happen a lot you know, me getting called away in the middle of dates, you getting called away in the middle of dates, I just figured the way this town works, we'd probably be on our eighth date before we got a chance to do that so I just wanted to get it out of the way."

"Dates?" Nathan smiled. "You see dates in our future?" He asked. "Eight of them."

"Hopefully more than eight." Jack assured him. "That is if people would stop building things that are highly volatile and radioactive."

"Fission isn't…" Nathan started.

"Save it." Jack waved him off as he headed in the direction of the blue tarp, which now had smoke pouring up from behind it. "Henry!" He screamed at the man who popped up sheepishly.

"Just a minor setback Jack." Henry smiled at him. "We'll have her up and running in no time, Strawberry right?"

"Why can't you just go buy ice cream at the store like regular people?" Jack growled at Henry and they started arguing over safety regulations.

"What's going on?" Zoe was back with Pilar, this time holding a bag of fresh popcorn.

"Your dad and Henry are arguing over safety issues." Nathan said.

Zoe rolled her eyes as Jack started demanding Henry get the device out of there and Henry tried to explain that it was perfectly safe. "Things that are perfectly safe do not explode!" Jack screamed.

"God, we can't take him anywhere." Zoe sighed holding out the bag of popcorn to Nathan who grabbed a handful and popped it in his mouth. She shook her head and turned to Nathan. "They're gonna be at this a while, why don't you make yourself useful and buy us lunch." She said. Nathan was taken aback by her bluntness and it showed. "You do realize if you're going to date my dad, you get me too?" She pointed out. "We're a package deal." Her voice wasn't so sure anymore and Nathan rushed to reassure her that was fine with him.

"It would be my pleasure to buy the two of you lunch." He smiled and held out his arm to Zoe and Pilar.

They looked over at Jack one more time who was now single handedly trying to drag the ice cream maker out of the park and Allison had joined in, on Henry's side trying to convince him it was safe. "Well I can already see which Carter is going to cause me the most trouble." Nathan sighed.

"Oh you think that now." Zoe looped her arm in his as they headed toward Vincent's grill. "Just wait until I'm sneaking in past curfew and bringing home disreputable boys, and putting you in the middle of fights between me and my dad." She smiled while she said this and Nathan just shook his head.

"That I can handle Zoe." He assured her. "You're dad on the other hand." He sighed. "He used the word invisibling." Zoe and Pilar laughed and Nathan joined in after a minute.

"Nathan." Jack was screaming at him from across the park, his hands on his hips, Henry and Allison standing in front of the ice cream maker and blocking his way. Nathan sighed.

"This was supposed to be my day off." He said. "Rain check on lunch?"

"Sure think." Zoe smiled at him as he headed off in the direction of the blue tarp.

"Would you please explain to them that the safety of everyone else in the park does not come in second to having fresh made ice cream." Jack said.

"Jack it's perfectly safe…" Nathan started but didn't get to finish.

"Don't. Don't you dare "perfectly safe" me." He rolled his eyes. "So it's three against one then is it?" He threw his hands up in the air. "Fine, I warned you, you blow up the park, don't come crying to me." He stormed in the opposite direction and Allison looked pointedly at Nathan who rolled his eyes and took off after him.

"Carter!" Nathan screamed.

"They're gonna fight all the time." Pilar pointed out.

"Probably." Zoe smiled. "But then they get to make up."

Pilar wrinkled her nose and both girls dissolved into laughter as they made their way toward Vincent for a bit of lunch. Zoe took one last glance at Nathan and her dad who were at the other end of the park. Jack was screaming at Nathan who was just nodding calmly and sympathetically. When she saw her dad shake his head in defeat, but not anger she knew they were gonna be ok. She turned her attention to the grill. "So what do you think it is? Beef? Lamb? Goat?" She motioned to the cooking meat.

"How about we don't ask and eat really fast." Pilar suggested.

"That sounds like a plan." Zoe smiled.


End file.
